112M People Expected To Travel This Holiday Season
BALTIMORE (WJZ) — Nationwide, more than 112 million people are expected to travel this holiday season.
Triple-A says this is a four percent jump from 2017.
Thursday was predicted to be the worst of the days to travel.
A majority of travelers will go by car and experts predict heavy traffic could make some trips take up to four times longer than normal.
102 million will drive to their destination, seven million will travel by air and close to four million will go by train, bus or ship.
"It's honestly a full day so usually in the morning and then we leave mid-afternoon, it's a full day," said Jordan Haober, a traveler.
"It just makes the trip have more of a headache, you know dealing with cars and people on the road and not knowing what the weather is going to be, of course that part of travel is not fun," said James Chavis, another traveler.
Everyone is urged to pack their patience and plan ahead for this busy travel forecast.
"Make sure they have their cars road-ready, check your brakes, check your air pressure, check your batteries, for those flying, give yourself ample time to get to the airport and get through those security checkpoints," said Ragina Cooper Averella with AAA Mid-Atlantic.
Experts say a strong economy with a rising disposable income and low gas prices are fueling this travel boost.
"We will be seeing record-low gas prices at the pump which is certainly good news and different than what we have seen throughout some of the holidays this year," Averella said.
Which could mean good news for drivers with a long commute.
"We try to stay close anyway, but the gas prices being lower definitely help with traveling around and use my truck instead of my car," Haober said.
"Gas prices definitely play a role, of course it matters in what you can spend and definitely makes a difference," Chavis said.
The holiday travel season runs from December 22 to January 1.
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